Once upon a time there must have been a very smart Black-backed gull that tried to get the meat out of a hard shelled shellfish, and just ended up frustrated! Probably had a degree in physics or something because it figured out that if dropped from a great height, the shell would probably break. Eventually!  These are the deep thoughts I have when watching the Black -backed gulls picking up pipi shellfish from the shallow water at the beach edge, fly high and drop the luckless shellfish back onto the beach.  Yummy. And of course, there is nearly always the ubiquitous Red Billed gull standing nearby, hoping for scraps or to steal the shellfish if the black-backed gull is too slow.

Note: The light browny and white coloured birds here are adolescent birds